Not necessary to limit MPs’ terms, say PJ rep, Bersih

 

Voters should be allowed to pick who they want to represent them, says Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: An elected representative and electoral reform group Bersih say that MPs should not be limited to serving for only a certain number of terms.

Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said the democratic process should determine how long an MP served a certain constituency, with voters deciding who they wanted to represent them.

“That is why we have the ballot box. If voters are not happy with an MP’s work, they would not vote for them again. That is how democracy works,” she told FMT, while maintaining that there should be a term limit for the prime minister.

However, Maria said, MPs in their third or fourth terms could be “encouraged” to give way for fresh faces.

Maria Chin Abdullah.

Bersih chairman Thomas Fann said a term limit for MPs was unnecessary as it would restrict the growth and development of an elected representative.

Fann said the Dewan Rakyat would be filled with “permanent cohorts” of inexperienced MPs, and that this would include future prime ministers and their Cabinet members.

“If the prime minister is also limited to two terms or 10 years, it would mean that the prime minister has to be a first-term or a second-term MP as well,” he told FMT.

Maria and Fann were agreeing with Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi, who had said a term limit was not necessary for MPs since they did not have executive powers.

But political analyst Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara maintained that a term limit should be imposed on sitting parliamentarians.

Thomas Fann.

He said recent state elections indicated that voters wanted fresh faces to represent them, citing the way many first-time candidates had won seats in the Melaka, Sarawak and Johor state polls.

Though sitting MPs did not have executive powers, Azmi said, there was always a need for parliamentarians with fresh ideas and perspectives.

MPs would be less inclined to present new ideas “the longer they stay in service, even for three or four terms”.

He also said having a term limit would put an end to the culture of warlords in political parties.

“These warlords are political veterans, and we need a term limit for MPs to avoid this culture of warlords controlling the parties and setting the direction of our politics,” he said. - FMT